Brutal Universe
by Monkeybandit2
Summary: Garnet was right about one thing if nothing else: he has a knack for getting into trouble.
1. Chapter 1

**... I kind of promised myself not to do this but...** **apparently I am weak to my impulsive ideas.** **Especially ideas that traverse into unmarked territory...**

 **FIRST! (Deliberately rips off the Crazy Train laugh...** **which I do not own nor claim rights to.)**

 **But yeah... anyway.**

 **I do not own either Brütal Legend nor Steven Universe. Respectively they belong to Double Fine (I think) and Rebecca Sugar and so on.** **This story is for entertainment purposes only.** **Why else would it be on FanFiction?** **On with the story!**

 **... also, for the record, like with pirates, you can be crafty with all sorts of things but names are another matter entirely it seems.**

Brütal Universe

Chapter One: First day on the job

Halvard Stadium, Jersey

"This is going to be so sick!"

Sour Cream did little to curb his enthusiasm and no one could really blame him. Certainly not Greg who had dreamed of a day like for since being Sour Cream's age and beyond. As for Steven, he was just as hyper and then some as if to make up for Sour Cream's own lack of jitters and obvious restlessness. In fact of the three, Steven was the first one out by bowling over Sour Cream in his seat the second Mister Universe parked the van.

"This is awesome!" Steven cheered from the outside of the van as he walked backwards, his body craned as far back as it could without him falling over by accident as he tried to see the very top of the stadium before them, all but ignoring the men in dark clothing, both leather and non, who looked on from the doorway with varying amounts of amusement. "I bet you could fit a bazillion people in here!"

"Certainly would be a heck of a lot more people than who showed up at my concerts," Greg half heartedly chuckled as he slide out of his van after Vidalia's son did so on his respective side of the vehicle.

"Hey, you guys the opening act?" Finally the men seen fit to leave their perch at the door, albeit at a sedate pace. In fact they didn't seem the least bit eager at the prospect of work beyond the capacity of it being their job, such was their speed.

Regardless, Greg regarded them with a smile that some of them politely returned as they languidly made their way to the back of the van where Steven was already at work, joined by Sour Cream, setting boxes down and riffling through their contents just to double check everything was there. "Yep! Well, he is," he jerked a thumb in Sour Cream's direction. "Me and my son are just helping out. I'm Greg by the way. Greg Universe," he offered as he held a hand out for a handshake to the one who had spoke up. A burly man dressed predominantly in black save for a demonic-looking chrome belt buckle, a spiked wristband on his exposed left forearm whilst a smaller sweatband adorned his similar right arm, and a white logo he couldn't discern was situated on his shirt. His hair was as dark as his clothing, and long liken to a mullet with heavy sideburns that almost look like mutton chops at first glance. He was shaved for the most part save for a shadow of a beard making its way back, and a small soul patch on his lower lip.

"Eddie Riggs," the man offered as he took and shook the offered hand. "We'll have your guy up and ready before you know it."

"Good to know!" Greg replied the moment he let go. "Thankfully though we don't have all that much."

The other man gave a good natured snort. "Yeah, well, gives us something to do... God knows we need something better to do," he grumbled.

"I'm sorry?"

"Ah nothing! Nothin'," Eddie muttered before snapping his fingers and digging into his pockets. Soon enough he fished out a backstage pass and gave it to the man. "Right. I'll set your kid and guy up in a jiffy!" he said before rounding the corner of the van and dashing down the side to round another. When he arrived at the back he couldn't help but blink in mild confusion when he found no one there. Look glanced inside the van and found it spotless... as far as equipment were concerned. It was more than obvious it was somebody's home though. A fairly messy one at that but that was besides the point. He leaned over the side and spied everyone making their way to the door, almost every carrying a box or what-have-you that was part of the Opening Act's act. Satisfied, he absent mindedly closed the doors in his pass and dashed after them with backstage and employee passes in hand.

"Whoa there! Hang on." He slipped a pass around the lanky teenager's neck. "There we go. As for you shortstuff..." After a small chase he caught up with Steven and likewise did the same for him, causing the young boy to stop and look at the pass now dangling from the lanyard on his neck. "Cool!"

"Hehe, yeah. Here, let me get that for ya." Without thinking twice Eddie reached down and took the box from Steven's hand and hefted it to his own stomach in surprise. Surprise that afflicted only him. It wasn't 'ehavy' per se, for him at least, but it was certainly of a weight to make someone of the child's stature to normally struggle. As such he couldn't help but mildly gawk at the box in his hands and to Steven who at first looked to him in evident, closed mouth confusion before seemingly realizing what was crossing the roadie's mind, causing him to grin in smug satisfaction.

"Steven Universe, Roadie Extraordinaire," the young boy offered with a cheeky smile as he flexed an arm. It was certainly enough to arouse a chuckle from the older man.

"Roadie huh?" He looked at him with half of a critical eye. "Well you definitely got the muscle for it. But you got a loooong way to go!" He didn't restrain the smirk on his face at seeing Steven pout.

"Aw... What do you mean by that?"

"Come on." He jerked his head to the door the others were currently passing through, his smile still plaster on his face. "I'll give you a few lessons and pointers on the way."

"Yay!"

XVX

Stage

There was some grumbling throughout it all but in record time the equipment had been set up, cables were installed and power cords put in place without issue besides some mild cheering and heckling from the overseeing crowd behind them. The hype man wasted no time in riling up the crowd for Sour Cream who subsequently took to the stage and got to work with a smile on his face. As such without anything pressing to do after seeing themselves off the stage, the roadies disbanded to double check the equipment, tend to their own lives or just brood in general. Brood about what however, Steven wasn't able to tell. In any event he was too busy paying rapt attention to Eddie as he gave him the finer points of repairing an electric guitar. Especially those that were allegedly "smashed to... heck." His garb in the meantime, which consisted of a red tank top with a yellow star on it, blue jeans, his flip flops and fingerless gloves, had two new additions courtesy of Eddie and the other roadies: an old gray headband and, surprisingly enough, a dark brown leather vest that actually fitted him; adjusting a headband was one thing, but everyone couldn't help but scratch their heads about a perfect fitting vest.

"Alright, as you know with _any_ guitar, you got to check—" Eddie was saying as he was making the final adjustment on a tab when laughter of an obnoxious sort cut through their conversation. Eddie's face which was as lively as it was friendly immediately contorted to a scowl bearing a seemingly familiar contempt in regards to the one laughing. In fact it looked like he was barely a string's breadth from outright groaning in irritation as a group of teenagers made their way to them, three in total. Whatever it was that they were talking about died down as the foremost one, a teenager dressed ripped up jeans, a red and gold shirt much too small for him, a red baseball hat and a pair of gold rimmed sunglasses whirled around from walking backwards and beheld Eddie's crouching, sitting form as if he had appeared from mid air.

"Oh! Hey, Riggs!" he said while waving his arms around in the greeting. "Uh..." he crouched slightly, cringing as he did so. "Sorry I smashed your guitar last night," he said as he sucked air through his teeth... He then turned around, jerked his thumb back at Eddie and started to laugh anew, revealing himself to be the source of the noise in the first place. He was only silenced when movement caught his eye as Eddie presented the guitar in his hand with a single, mild thrust without even glancing at anyone in the group. At seeing the guitar the group of teenagers gathered around it, gawking.

"It's like new!"

"Whoa! How'd you do that?" the red one asked. Then, as if to show he honestly didn't care for the answer, snatched the electric guitar away and skulked off as fast as he could with the others following his retreat. Steven in the meantime as he frowned at them only drew his attention away from them at the sound of a metallic click. When he snapped his attention back to Eddie he had apparently fished out both a lighter and a cigarette, lit it and began to smoke it, causing him to scrunch his face up in disgust as the foul smell afflicted him. Eddie for his part glanced at Steven and cringed as he realized what he had done in the kid's presence, looked to the burning stick in his mouth and adopted a look of contemplation for just a moment before ultimately dousing the cigarette on the crate he sat on.

"Hey, Eddie, I hate to ask but our manager wanted to know..." A fourth teen in white and black wearing a half mask of white slide himself into their presence without even looking up from the handheld game pad in his hand. He only looked up for only a moment and even Steven could tell it was to see if he was in fact talking to the roadie and not something that just happened to be there. "When are you going to build us, like, a _new_ set?" he said as he again looked away from the game in his hand to look without looking, a hand upheld at his side as if gesturing to the set Steven seen while they were working on Sour Cream's equipment... He honestly thought it was cool. Definitely bigger and more awesome than most of what he had seen thus far, and that was including Gem stuff! At any rate however the teenager swiftly brought his full attention, the majority at least, to the game he was playing. "This Stonehenge stuff was funny in a kind of ironic, retro sort of way, but..."

Glancing to Eddie, it was evident he was making a conscious effort not to grab another cigarette for himself. As much as Steven wanted to object to it after hearing all the effects of smoking had on the body between Connie and her mother, he knew enough to know that some adults leaned on them for comfort despite knowing it was bad for them, especially during stressful or deriding situations. Knowing that and seeing what he seen thus far... well, he endured worse for the sake of others and he knew it. It didn't mean he liked it though.

"Look ,Eddie, don't get me wrong. You're the best, okay?" the teen said as he waved his hand as if to flourish the point, yet didn't look up. "You're the greatest roadie in the biz. Everybody knows you can fix anything, build anything." Hand still outstretched in the same manner as before, the teenager began to pace back in forth in short but slow intervals as he spoke. Then he stopped, his hand returning to the game. "So maybe you could build something that would speak more to our tween demographic." Eddie once more looked like he was on the verge of outright groaning in annoyance. But he did fix him in what could be construed as a glare. A hard stare at most really. One the teenager managed to catch on time by luck of a glance and suitably looked defensive as if frightened if only for a moment as he said "is all I'm sayin'." A moment later however he returned his now resumed apathy back to his game, yet gave Eddie more of his shoulder as if it would shield him from the man's annoyed stare.

"Sooner or later you're going to have to join the modern world, you know?" he finally said as he began to walk backwards for only a few steps. He then whirled around, straightened a lock of his hair and practically ran for the stage which Steven vaguely noticed became much quieter while the teenager was talking.

At last Eddie sighed and his hand reached for a pocket in his pants, but hesitated. "Hey, Kid, do you mind if I..."

"Hmmf," Steven grunted as he nodded his consent. He did back up however to avoid smelling it.

"Thanks."

With a new cigarette lit and both the lighter and the cigarette pack stowed away, Eddie took swift drag from his stick. Then another one, a deeper one as the teen from before called out from the speakers to the crowd. "Alright! Do you people want to hear some Heavy Metal?" The crowd subsequently cheered all the louder in response and, with an ashen face, Steven slowly regarded Eddie after glancing toward the stage despite the customary curtain in the way. "... they're not an opening act?"

"Headliner," Eddie solemnly confirmed as the heavy music began to play. He took yet another drag from his cigarette, finishing it off and blew out the collected smoke before getting up and sauntered to the covered side of the stage more out of obligation than interest. Regardless, Steven followed him, and from the shadows another roadie joined them as well. Looking out across the stage it was more than easy to spot the teens from before were indeed the band, the "headliner," and with a little more effort he was barely able to make out Sour Cream, his dad and some of the other roadies sorting Sour Cream's belongings back into the boxes they came in.

... then the lyrics mercilessly came.

"Oooooooh Girlfriend! You really want to make my heart bend!—"

"... I never really heard Metal before but... please tell me that's not Metal."

"Only in name, kid. Only in name."

"I can fix anything, except that," Eddie ground out in a weary, agitated soliloquy.

"I think my ears are going to be sick," Steven groaned aloud. Both roadies offered him a solemn pat, both to the respective shoulders, but offered nothing else as all three watched on. From across the stage Steven was fairly sure his dad was having a similar reaction to his own only with far more confusion in comparison.

"Ever feel like you were born in the wrong time?"

"Huh?" Steven looked up at Eddie who had spoken only to see he was in fact speaking to the other roadie. He did however glance at him in acknowledgement before continuing. "Like you should have been born earlier. When music was..." He looked out to the stage yet managed to look through the band before them rather than at them. "Real?"

"Like... the seventies?" the other roadie offered in a drawl, garnering a quick glance from Eddie.

"Earlier," Eddie corrected. "Like... the early seventies."

"But... would that still be the seventies?" Steven asked in confusion as he looked up to the older roadie. He in turn looked down to Steven, mouth open in reply when an "uh oh" from the other roadie snatched his attention away. Both looked to the other man who was looking up at something else. Both followed his line of sight and soon found the red teen horsing around on one of the higher, decorative offshoots of the giant, beastly figure that was the stage's towering, all surrounding guardian of a decoration.

"Oh I told you not to climb on that, you stupid mother—!" His lips pursed in a tight seal yet a fine hiss of hair escaped through them as he looked down to confirm Steven's presence. With a heavy groan Eddie silenced himself for decency's sake. As he did so, the red guitarist lost his footing on the offshoot he was bouncing on and desperately clung to the now hung forth at an angle even Steven knew was not a part of its design, stressed or otherwise.

"Please let him fall."

"Hey! He could get really hurt!" Steven cried out. He would've dashed out onto the stage proper had Eddie not held him back. "You stay here!" he ordered before slipping off into the main stage, hanging in the back and stealthily creeping through without the band and even the crowd being any the wiser to his presence.

As he traveled through the stage, Steven couldn't help but watch Eddie in awe as he walked rather than run even as he crossed through along the lights. Due to his dark clothing it was almost difficult to spot him even though he knew where the older man was as he partially swept and collected trash in his passing as if it were second nature to him. Where he put it though the young boy couldn't tell, nor did he care as he watched the roadie climb onto the colossal prop and move swiftly enough to the beast's teeth to catch the previously stolen guitar from mid-air as it fell from above so the teenager to grasp the offshoot with both hands. With the same amount of speed and agility Eddie placed the guitar in the crook of the beast's arching tusk of a tooth and its primary, lower teeth before scaling back down the body of the prop. When he was on his feet once more he looked up, positioned himself and held out his arms and by doing so he caught the teenager long before Steven realized he had fallen from the prop's blunt spike from above. As soon as he had set him down the teenager took off running to his band and the roadie began to carefully step back into the shadow of the large prop where the lighting was concerned, unaware of the falling debris about to smash into him.

 _"_ _LOOK OUT!"_

 ** _FWBAAAAM!_**

But it was too late. The band as well as the crowd was too stunned and shocked to make a move as were some of the roadies in the shadows as well. But that didn't stop Steven, nor some of the older workers as well from rushing out onto the stage to the fallen piece that had landed on and buried Eddie Riggs. In mere moments before reaching him however an unearthly, bestial growl of metal rumbled out from nowhere and in that same moment the ground at the back of the stage where the piece of scenery had fallen was alight with an ominous red glow. From in a pair of metal claws burst forth and pushed the main body of a metal beast from the depths of the glow. Its sheer size and raw power easily brushed against the fallen prop as if it wasn't there but it did lean against the monster which was perhaps a third the size in height compared to the mountainous sculpture behind it. The beast then jerked its head up, its tusk easily knocking the debris from its resting place, and roared with such might and ferocity that it had the roadies all the eager to skitter back to the shadows in fear of their lives. Even Steven couldn't help but pause in fear when the beast lowered its head to a more natural setting and roared once more for the sake of it, its voice that of the gigantic beast naturally coupled with the roar of a car's engine. From its metal mouth came a jet of fire, and from the exhaust pipes on its back came furious flames as well.

When the beast seemed content at last it shifted its attention to the side and looked down at the bloodied body of Eddie Riggs and in doing so, in passing, Steven couldn't help but notice the startling likeness it had with the sculpture behind the beast. It was almost as if the stage was built in the beast's likeness, only lacking metal for skin, the fire in its breath and eyes as well as the molten slag that ran through each definitive crevice along its body to accentuate each muscle and limb. Regardless, he carefully made his way to Eddie, eying the chromed behemoth as it inspected the human.

As he crept closer and closer to Eddie and taking what care to avoid being seen, Steven was witness to the beast's gaze lifting from the fallen human to glare and lowly growl at a gathering of the band's members. It then looked down and pointed one of two fingers down at Eddie, looking at him as it did so. Without warning it snapped its head back up and bellowed at the band. In seconds flat their heads popped off, spewing blood and bits of bone much to Steven's body stilling horror. During his shock the beast shuffled in place and growled at something beyond Steven's vision, doubly so since its own hulking form helped serve to block what would've been seen in the first place. Yet thanks to the growl he had snapped back into focus and forsook the imperative need to sneak about the creature in favor of tending to the bleeding roadie all but directly beneath the beast. As he drew closer he stuck his tongue out and coated his hand with his saliva. Even as the creature swiftly rose one of its arms and smashed into whatever it was glaring at with enough force to rock the stage, Steven continued on.

Soon enough he was at the roadie's side and dabbed him with his soaked hand. With everything that had happened thus far he couldn't help but feel at least _some_ relief at seeing what visible wounds close up in moments flat, yet the blood remained. He then looked up to the other end of the stage, the one closest to him where his dad and Sour Cream were last seen, could still be seen and held back of frightened roadies despite his dad's attempts to bulldoze past them to his son's side. Seeing no choice, Steven took it upon himself to position himself around Eddie's shoulders, wrap his hands around him and begin to outright drag the man to safety.

 _"_ _ **Gwrrrrr.**_ _"_

Unfortunately for him he wasn't fast enough. He didn't even make it but a scant few feet when his gaze tore itself from Eddie to the hulking beast which stared back at him with its burning eyes, breathing heavily, judging him. Then it lowered its head, drawing itself closer as if to better scrutinize him... the last thing he could recall was the fiery beast opening its mouth once more and bellowing straight into his face.

XVX

Elsewhere, an unknown amount of time latter

He could feel his limbs twitching along with his eyelids as consciousness retook him. Yet he felt drained. One by one his eyes opened only to alternate between closing, drearily blinking and fighting to stay open for moments on end. Throughout it all however what was dully registered as ringing became a sharp and unmistakable clash of metal on metal as if a battle was taking place near him. There were even grunts, groans, cries of pain and battle. There was even a loud but surprisingly undisturbing crack of lightning and thunder. Yet what finally fully awoken him however was the distinctly **_loud_** reverberation like an amp blasting out pure noise. Not only to the sheer level of noise jolt him awake but the power behind it not only shook him by the building as well from the sound of it. The walls were even crumbling away from the assault!

Awake with a fresh boost of adrenaline, the boy sat up and got to his feet on what appeared to be a dais of some sort in a small alcove when another shock rattled his bones and tore the building further apart to reveal burgeoning gaps in the architecture. By the time he had hopped off and rushed to the edge of the landing just in time to see the back of none other than Eddie Riggs as he came down from a jump, electric guitar in hand and strumming it in a single stroke with such force that a shockwave blasted men in red robes, armed with serpentine-like swords, surrounding the roadie to the far walls of the room and obliterate the surrounding architecture at the same time. Thankfully none of the brickwork and stones fell inside the building, instead crumbling backwards from the force of the shock, revealing the orange evening sky beyond them. And bones. Surprisingly large bones that weren't torn away with the rest of the stonework.

As he gazed out on at the scenery readily available from the platform he stood to the blood covered stone floor inscribed with runic caricatures and symbols, the unmoving bodies of red robed men littered about what used to be the room, to a stone replica of a claw he came to be familiar with. He followed the hand as far as he could till he was forced to move when the limits of his vision and neck had been reached. Even by carefully towing the edge of the half circular platform he had stood on he couldn't see past the jaw of imposing statue, but he saw enough. Between the muscular arm and the claw that ended on it, the square jaw, the beastly physique and the tusks, he knew enough that it was but another replica of the same metal beast from before.

"Hey Steven!" The boy's head snapped back to the roadie who waved at him with a grin. "Good to see you're alright! Was worried about you for a sec—"

A rattling of bone, the crunching of skulls and mechanical grunting, became prominent enough to warrant Eddie to cut himself short to look in the direction the noise was coming from. As expected something indeed came. A mobile platform draped in red cloth and held aloft by four legs of bone crested the horizon of the floor. On each leg was a trio of golden exhaust pipes with blackened ends fastened to the side and spewing a faint but steady stream of black exhaust. Along the main body of the platform was a black strip of cloth and on it, kneeling down with their back turned against them was a thin figure in red. Though far away and kneeling, even Steven could tell there was something off about the person on the platform. If nothing else said person, despite kneeling, was easily taller than the both of them combined. Maybe even Opal's height if he were to guess. Regardless, Eddie marched to the landing before the stilled platform with a double-headed axe in hand with a black imprint of flames scrawled along the broad sides of the weapon. Both sides, on each blade an perfectly mirroring each other in a reverse fashion was a curled spike of an edge.

"Alright, nice try lady, or whatever you are," Eddie announced. "I'm suppose to think you're a nun but I know your some kind of big ugly demon so let's have it."

In response the figure looked behind her and revealed to the both of them something... _almost_ incomprehensible: there, just beneath a large headband Steven often seen nuns wear on TV, was a large bear trap for a mouth.

"Ah ha! I knew it! Big ugly demon."

The figure stood up and as if commanded to the platform leaned down to touch the edge of the platform Eddie resided on. Lithely the 'demon' stepped off the platform and made its way to Eddie, hips swaying with each step, hands swinging in rhythm, brandishing index fingers far longer than they should have been, the tips of which reaching down to her knees like scythes. She was easily comparable to Opal's height, Steven thought, if not a little shorter. Yet she radiated no warmth in her movements. If anything there was a calculated malice that had Steven's flesh crawling as he watched her whilst Eddie murmured something he wasn't able to catch. Then, without warning once it came close enough to Eddie, the 'demon' nun lurched forward without taking a step nor jumping and roared at him, her metal mouth opening as wide as it could and flapping like it was alive. From her mouth was a spattering of blood that flecked itself on Eddie's skin whilst the nun roared.

Without hesitation Eddie flung himself at the nun in response, axe in hand and began to hack at it with a ferocity Steven only seen the Gem utilize in their more darker moments in their lives when there was little room left for decency. And though he easily drew blood, the blade did not go as deep as one would suspect with each strike. As such the nun roared once more, blood once more spewing from its mouth only with enough force to push the roadie back. As he was being forced back, to the sides four flames erupted out of nowhere without provocation. From the briefly lived flames came more men in red robes, each brandishing the weird curving swords the other fallen monks had on their persons. With weapons on hand they charged at the roadie as he fought against the current of blood for some footing, evidently blinded and none the wiser to their presence...

From his spot Steven called forth his shield with a frown on his face and let it loose like a discus at the first monk within his sight. Easily enough it caught the man and knocked him down as it bounced off him and slammed into another. From there it bounced into a third monk, a fourth, and finally into the nun, forcing her to relent as she recoiled from the blow of the now dissipating shield. In turn Eddie lunged back into the fray with a battle cry, his axe held up high. Unlike before his attacks went in deeper with each strike till eventually the nun, covered in gouges, fell over, never to rise again as she bled out much to Steven's renewed horror. Once she had fallen, Eddie, after having switched from his axe to his guitar, once more hopped into the air and landed with another strum of his strings which created yet another shockwave that sent the men away like ragdolls. He then stroked the cords with both speed and precision which called forth bolts of lightning on the men. In a matters of seconds the battle was over. All Steven could do was gape at the man and what he had witnessed as fresh blood pooled around the body of the nun whilst smoke risen off the dead monks.

"Heh-heh yeah! Wait... I think I heard killing nuns was bad luck. We better get out of here. Let's go!"

Eddie rushed over to the edge where the mobile platform resided and apparently fallen as if injured. Had he not looked over his shoulder to Steven it was more than likely he would've hopped on without ado. But seeing the paled boy stare at the grisly scene as if he was paralyzed with shock he came to a stop. "Hey Steve! At any rate we'll have to get out of here!" The boy didn't move or even flinch in response. Concerned, the man jogged back, ushered himself up the stairs and kneeled down to be at eye level with him. As he did so, he slowly reached out with a hand and gently shook him, prompting Steven to look at him with a start and even jerk away from the older roadie.

"Hey hey now, don't be scared. It's just me."

Steven worked his mouth up and down, trying to say something but couldn't. It went on for moments on end till he found his voice at long last. "You killed them."

"Well of co—" Eddier clamped his mouth shut with a thoughtful frown as he gazed at the boy in thought. He then sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Look," he said, "when I woke up I found you stone cold unconscious next to me. Then I found these dudes," he gestures to the dead monks littered across the base floor, "practically worshipping this axe," he raised a hand and nudged at the weapon strapped to his back, "and then grab a bunch of swords and start following me, trying to stab at me and whatnot. I tried to talk them out of it, I really did, but in the end I had to defend myself..."

His lips pursed. "What I'm saying though is this: this wasn't something that could be settled with words. It would have been nice if it did and believe me, I would've taken that route. But as it was though, I had to defend myself and you."

Steven somberly stared at him before looking at the blood soaked floor. "... If we find more of these guys, can you at least promise me you'll try to talk to them?"

"I'll try," Eddie readily promised. "But for now though, let's get out of here. Okay?"

Steven continued to stare out at the scene before him but replied nevertheless without any sense of his jubilant spirit behind it. "Okay..."

"Alright then. Let's get going then."

After a bit of coaxing, Steven reluctantly followed the older man through the battleground, the fallen, and carefully avoided the pools of blood as best he could till they reached the tilted platform the nun had arrived on. Both took a running start and both landed ontop of the machine which straightened in response and groaned more organically than it should have. To add to the strangeness there appeared to be some sort of... organic... hole? protruding like a dry wound in the middle of the platform where the nun once sat. In front of this 'wound' sat a small black table laden with lit candles and an open book written in script neither of them could discern. It was probably for the best however since what few pictures that were drawn within its pages were nothing short of a horror movie in their own right. The pages themselves also seem to have been stained with blood at some point as well. Setting all that aside however their attention wasn't focused solely on the platform they commandeered for themselves as they viewed the surrounding landscape. Both were quick to tell they were on, of all things, a literal mountain of bones that easily towered the winding smidgeon of land presented before them attached to the one and only traversable slope on the mountain. Like the building they had left, the land before the slope looked to have once been a temple of some sort as well. Like the building, it too had seen better days: there was no roof for the entire complex, the walls were coming down and there were more than a few broken pillars in plain view. Surrounding both the mountain of skulls, the temple before them and the trail of land which connected to a far off yet massive bridge some miles out was a dark ocean separating them from the mainland to their left. It too was some miles out; squinting his eyes, Steven was fairly certain he saw giant statues of weapons sticking out here and there on the mainland.

"Okay, alright, well, here goes. Um." Eddie kneeled down on the platform and steepled his hands in prayer as Steven was surveying the land and scenery. "Um... Dear Evil, messed up demon powers of darkness, and, uh, unimaginable evil." The platform lurched forward and began to plod its way down the hillside, causing Eddie to pause for a moment as Steven cringed in discomfort. When it began to slow down in its pace to a near stop Eddie continued his impromptu chant. "Please transport us off this awesome corpse pile. We are but a couple of visitors in your strange world which some would call hellish, but I have to admit, it's kind of badassed."

"Hey! Language!"

Eddie couldn't help but groan in response. "It's kind of true though," he grumbled more to himself than to Steven. Regardless, he continued. With mild gusto no less.

"Oh Lords of gross, leather things and S&M type wear—"

"What wear?" Steven asked, his head tilting. Eddie choked and sputtered with a heavy blush on his cheeks as he regarded Steven and dropped his praying altogether.

"I-uh... It's... Uh... You see... You know, this is the sort of thing you should ask your parents about," he offered.

"Why?"

"Um... let's say its a thing adults do—SOME adults do, not all—when their... bored. Really bored. With something only adults do."

"Like... when they drink coffee?" Steven offered.

Eddie stared at Steven with a stone blank face. "Yes. Like when they drink coffee."

Steven's face scrunched up in incredulity as the two stared at one another. Each trying to make the other break in their own way for their own purposes, harmless as they were. As they did so neither of them quite noticed that in the meantime the platform began to walk on its own accord without any further coaxing. As such they only noticed they reached land when the platform groaned as if in pain and toppled without warning, tossing the two of them into a red circle surrounded by murmuring, armed monks.

"What the..." Eddie, after getting up, cautiously approached the crimson circle encircling them and pressed his hand against it as if it were a wall. "Aw c'mon." With a sigh he gave his surroundings a quick glance and retrieved his guitar from his back. "Okay, I'm gonna give you guys a fair warning! Let's drop the magic circle of doom and let's talk about this like adults or else I'm gonna have to get rough with you guys!" The low, almost indiscernible chanting droned on unabated. "Did you hear me?"

"Hey! I got an idea?"

"Hm?"

He looked over his shoulder and saw that Steven had squatted down as if prepared to jump. His tongue was sticking out as well as his face scrunched up in determination. A second later he leapt with both surprising speed and height yet both of them failed him as he apparently smacked into an invisble roof and plopped back down into the ground.

"You alright?"

Steven held up a thumbs up.

Sighing to himself, Eddie looked out to the gathered druids once more. "Last warning! I'm going to have to force our way out if you keep this up!" he called out. He was still ignored however. With a heavier sigh he turned back to Steven who almost listlessly pushed himself back up with a frown. "Well, I did warn them."

Steven's frown deepened but he otherwise did nor said anything in response.

"Alright. Here it comes!" Eddie shouted out in good faith before he leapt up into the air. The druids continued their chant, speaking louder than before in defiance, and the shield held to the last second when the shockwave came. Interrupted, cast aside and subject to falling masonry and, interestingly enough, motor engines hanging overheard from the arches, the group was obliterated save for one armed with a pair of knives rather than the curved swords the druids seemed to favor. The figure approached them cautiously, especially once Eddie rounded on the figure with his axe in hand, Steven to his side with his shield drawn out; its sheer vibrancy upon its summoning and the stark pink clashing against the darkening world in the company of blood drew Eddie's surprised attention for a moment till it was reordered on the monk before them.

"Okay maybe your friends wouldn't listen but now it's two on one. Let's just talk about this before someone gets bloodied and beaten," Eddie sternly announced.

The druid hesitated before jerking their own head back to remove the hood to reveal dark brown tresses of a pale and slightly dirty woman wearing a black cloth collar.

"Oh man. Please tell me I haven't been slaying hot girls this whole time," Eddie practically whispered in awe.

"It's bad enough your killing people as it is," Steven groaned half heartedly.

"In my defense, little buddy. In my literal defense," Eddier countered as he glanced to him. "By the way, where did you get that shield?"

"I summoned it."

"Huh?"

"It seems you came for the axe as well," the woman announced at long last. Though her eyes betrayed her slightly but her stature and voice was even and commanding enough to be considered unflappable.

"No but these guys jumped me and I—Hang on."

"GOOF!"

Eddie was had casually switched the axe to his other hand in a mild toss and was halfway from leaning back with a languid but deadly strike when Steven's pink shield decorated with a circling thorn vine and a rose center bounced off a surviving monk, knocking him to the ground with a groan. Eddie had to look back and do a double take before looking to Steven, shield on his arm once more without any sort of strapping to it now that he noticed. "You're some sort of Captain America, aren't you?" Without looking, Eddie switched hands once more with another toss.

Steven's expression to one in open confusion. "Who?"

"I'll explain later."

"You handle it very naturally," the woman commented offhandedly as he attention drifted over to Steven. "Who are you two?"

"Uh, right shoulder."

"Grk!"

The woman stabbed at yet another monk who was trying to sneak up her this time without her even looking. Like before however he was smacked by the boomerang shield, knocking him out and essentially saving his life before the knife could plunge into his chest.

"Damn! You got a wicked throwing arm!" Eddie laughed, Steven beaming in the meantime as the woman looked at the unconscious monk to Steven in disbelief. Soon enough she shook her wonder off of her with a shake of her head.

"We got to get out of here before He arrives."

"Yeah," Eddie readily agreed as he whirled around and began to rush into the depths of the open air temple. "Wait, before who arrives?" Eddie then asked, slowing down as he did so as he craned his neck to look at the pair following him.

"Emperor Doviculus," she answered as she dashed after him.

"Who?" Steven asked.

"Emperor Doviculus! Where are you from?"

"Kind of hard to say... Uhm... We've been kind of on the road," Eddie answered for the both of them as they reached the newest group of enemies consisting of druids and a nun. Above them was an engine overhead.

"Be assured, you don't want to be here when he arrives."

"What's the big deal?" Eddie asked as he switched to his guitar. He hesitated only for a moment when the pink shield rushed forth and collided with the nun, stunning her but not knocking her over like her much smaller comrades. As such he rushed forward, leapt into the air and made use of the shockwave once more to dislodge the engine precariously hanging overhead. With its weight and the explosion of the impact, the group was wiped out.

"We're slaughtering his personal guard for one thing," the woman elaborated as they rushed passed the fallen bodies.

"Ah ha... So what did you say your name was?"

Encountering the another group liken to the previous one, the same tactic was used. Unlike before however the shield didn't lash out. When Eddie had the opportunity after unleashing the overhanging motor on their latest victims, he looked over to find Steven lagging behind, reluctantly following them and hugging his own shield to him.

"This way!" the woman ordered, forcing him to snap his attention to her as she ran to a massive pair of wooden doors that cut the temple off from the rest of the land. She was specifically running to the middle where a rectangular peephole resided, visible only thanks to the angle that caught the edge of the stone wall and the setting sun. "We have to get to the door before the—" She came to an abrupt halt as she stared out the slot. Eddie soon joined her and peered out as well to see a rectangular formation of druids marching to the door, a nun at their right and behind them and what appeared to be a giant's pair of bone legs with a cage of metal hanging between them. Whatever was in the cage was covered in a dripping miasma of dark mist. "Yeah. That's a lot of dudes," Eddie commented.

With a roar a druid appeared from underneath his own side of the slot and reached out a clawed hand to grab the head of either of the humans. Both however jolted away, yet it was the woman who stabbed the creature's hand to the door, pinning him there with a pained howl. Both turned around in time to see Steven stare at the scene with restrained fright and a paled face. Of the two only Eddie frowned in concern whilst his companion cautiously backed away, knives at the ready as if the door was on the verge of breaking open... Unfortunately he had nothing to offer to placate him at the moment given what was likely to happen should the doors indeed fail. As such he looked ahead of him and, with a raised brow, looked up at a towering spire decorated with interspaced, downward arrows till it was topped by, of all things, a sculpture of the metal beast's head. "What is this place?"

"The Temple of Ormagöden. A place of ancient power but no one knows it's true purpose."

"Hm..." Looking back down, he saw that Steven had wandered over to the base of the statue to look at what appeared to be a large tablet carved into the statue. From his spot he couldn't help but squint at it as it appeared that something was written on it as well. That and the words themselves seemed to be glowing from a distance.

"Hey! I think this is some kind of music sheet!" Steven called out. Seeing as he had nothing better to do, Eddie gave a quick glance to the door was the pounding begun before rushing over to the tablet. As he drew closer and rushed over a small step onto a higher platform than the rest of the ground, he couldn't help but notice what appeared to be a sketching of a car carefully chalked into the ground. And as he drew closer he was able to pick out musical notes from undecipherable lettering, undecipherable due to unfamiliarity.

"Welp, got nothin' better to do," Eddie half murmured as he fingered the strings of his guitar. With a grunt he cracked his neck. "Might want to step back kiddo. Not sure if this is going to do something or not."

"Okay!"

Assuming Steven had in fact given him some distance, the roadie began to stroke the cords in an experimental fashion before outright plucking the strings. Once he was confident in what he could guess was the 'musical key' as it were, or at least a sweet solo, either one would work, he begun to strum the song, striking each note with perfection. The earth shook him with each note, the sky darkened as spotlights appeared from nowhere from the ground, and with the final note lightning rushed forth from the heavens with a crack yet struck no one as spots within the raised floor opened up to reveal raising racks containing mufflers, tires, chassis, engines and everything else a car might need.

"Whoa," Steven murmured in awe, joined in by a silent gawk from the unnamed woman looking over her shoulder.

"Hey Steven!" The boy jerked his attention to Eddier as he looked over his shoulder with a hefty grin. "How about I show you how to put a car together!"

"Awesome!"

XVX

The work took but minutes between the two of them. It probably would've been faster if Eddie hadn't paused to supervise the young boy with the more delicate or advanced installations but no one minded it. During it all though their other companion only looked on with restrained interest. In fact it could barely be said she was barely impressed with what they were doing at first glance. She didn't even say anything till the two backed away so they could admire their handiwork. "Is it a mine cart?"

"Wha—it's a car! A really cool car!" Steven exclaimed as he gestured to the two seater car with a black body, orange flame decal and an exposed engine. It didn't have a roof but it only made it that much cooler in Steven's eyes.

"I call it the Druid Plow. Let me show you how it works," Eddie responded as he walked over to the car and vaulted over to the driver. "You see you slam it into go-( _zip!)_ -oo-ho-ho hello! Looks like its working already!"

At the sound of the unzipping Steven looked over to the woman long before Eddier did and saw that her robes had fallen off. In their place, hiding beneath her robes, was a black shirt bearing an upside-down depiction of a raven with an equally upside-down picture of an ankh. She had on slightly faded blue jeans on as well, a belt with thick but thin spikes that could easily puncture someone if they were not careful, wristbands with the same sort of spikes and regular black shoes on as well. When the banging of the door increased in ferocity and tempo her attention was stolen away for but a moment until the Druid Plow roared to life. As she turned her attention to the vehicle she Brought her knives up, ready to attack. "You awakened the spirit of the Beast himself!"

"I hope so!"

The pounding grew louder as did the shouts now creeping through the door. After a moment's hesitation the woman rushed forth and hopped into the passenger's seat. As for Steven however, he held back a little longer as he stared at the door.

"Hey! Steven!" Eddie called out. "Move it or lose it!"

Hands clenched, teeth clenched and eyes shut tight with beads of shamed tears forming in the corners of which, Steven ran to the car and jumped. Alas thanks to his closed eyes he misjudged the distance and slammed into the side with a heavy "oof!"

"Whoa! You alright dude?"

"Y-yeah..."

"Come on!" The woman hopped out of the car, scooped up the young boy in her arms and plopped the both of them back into the passenger's seat. A second later the car's tires squealed as they spun from a cold start whilst the car lurched forward. In no time the car rammed through the door with such force that it swung open against the horde that gathered at the other side of the door. The druids themselves fared no better either as the door either swept them aside or else were plowed through by the aptly named car as it tore down the road and smacked into other druids, nuns and anything else unfortunate enough to be in the way; throughout entire ordeal Steven kept his eyes closed as he tried to turn away as best he could while he sat on the woman's lap, her encircling arms the closing thing to a seat belt at the moment.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her question was not directed at Steven however. As such it prompted him to peek out from his covered eyes and, to his surprise, find Eddie's hand doing its best to block out Steven's vision in midair even as the body of a maimed monk flew over them; looking up out of curiosity and regretting it, he couldn't help but notice the distorted, fanged and scarred face that the car hadn't ruined.

"Closest thing to a compromise!" Eddie retorted as he ran over yet another druid. Though he cringed at the sound of it, Steven couldn't help but form a weary smile in thanks before clamping his eyes shut once more.

"Whatever," she sighed for a moment. "We need to get to the bridge before they shut the Feeding Area gates."

"Feeding Area? What are they feeding?"

"You get there fast enough then you might not find out."

The engine continued to roar and the car continued to bump and ram into things as it drifted to one side to another. Though a good number of them were easily bodies of the very enemies they were trying to get away from thanks to the grunts and screams of the victimized, it was obvious enough to tell without looking that they were on a rough road as well. That much he was thankful for as he tried to ignore the cries of the mauled.

"Um, what's up with Crazy Legs?"

"They called in reinforcements... But why such a large force?"

"What? Because we're badasses!"

"Language!" Steven chided once more.

"Oh come on! Can't you at least give me that one?" Eddie groaned.

At this the woman chortled a short chuckle for the first time since meeting her. Before long Steven was forced against the woman's chest by the insistence of gravity as the car seemingly went up a ramp. It also promptly flew through the air apparently as a momentary weightlessness took him, causing the woman to hold him tighter to her even as they roughly landed yet kept going despite being bounced around.

"Okay I haven't mentioned it yet but this place is nuts!"

"Yes. These are dark times for our land. There are a few of us fighting to change the way things are. Is that why you've come? To join us in our fight for the liberation of humanity?"

"You know I don't really know. Haven't really thought about it yet. But, uh, that's the best explanation I've heard."

"What are you guys fighting against?" Steven asked as he opened his eyes and looked up at long last to look the woman in the eye. Likewise she looked down at him with an answer on her lips. Fate however seemed against the answer as the Druid Plow drove up another hill and was launched into the air. Eddie by then had retracted his hand to grasp the steering wheel with both hands, giving Steven an unadulterated, heart stopping view of the ground as it was rushing up to greet them from a quarter a mile below at best. With fear plaguing his mind thanks to this surprise, he instinctually formed the bubble which in turn surrounded the car, protecting it from the crash with the ground and causing them to bounce up into the air once more before smacking into the ground as the pink bubble dissipated within the ring they found themselves in. Within the ring, at the very center was a hole. Surrounding both it and scattered throughout the arena were piles of bones, some of which were promplty ran over by the Druid Plow.

"Holy crap, what was that?"

"Hey!"

"It's a legitimate question this time!" Eddie replied as he swerved the car along the outer edge of the ring they had landed in and made straight for the gate. "Seriously though. Between the _pink_ shield and the _pink_ bubble, you have freakin' super powers, don't you?"

"Yeah..."

"Sweet!"

"The gate's closing!"

Between two towers of stone and the arch they supported a colossal steel portcullis slammed into the ground long before they had arrived. A second glance throughout the arena was enough to discern that it was indeed the one and only exit aside from a small footpath leading back to where they came from. Regardless, before the gate a group of druids had gathered and were marching upon them.

"Aw come on! I'm getting sick of you guys!" Eddie yelled from his seat before leaning back into it with a sigh. Without looking at either of them, Eddie waved his hand and pointed at the gate as he spoke to them. "Alright. While I'm slaying these dudes, you two get that gate open!" By the time he had looked at them it was readily apparent that the both of them disappeared. In fact, after a moment's worth of frantic searching, they had secreted themselves away to the nearest pillar. Not only that but as they arrived at the foot of the tower they were closest to, Steven had somehow convinced the now skeptical woman to sit atop his shoulders. Before Eddie could even utter a "huh?", Steven crouched down and jumped _several feet_ into the air despite the weight on his shoulders and practically hovered at the first ledge as the skittish woman hopped off him and onto the newly presented platform. In a swift turn he reached out and snatched the boy out of the air and pulled him to her, hugging him long enough so as to turn around again and deposit him safely on the ground. she then ran past him and into a doorway just out of sight. "Damn it, now I want super powers too."

XVX

"Grk!"

And another one fell to Steven's shield before he knew what hit him. Thankfully though he was the only monk within the entire room. At any rate however the unconscious demon was ignored in favor of the levers, chains and other machinery within the room.

"Let's get to work. Our chances of escaping are far greater if we can get that... car... through the gate," she said as she rushed to the first apparatus she saw that looked to have been deliberately locked.

"Okay!" Steven followed her lead by circling around it and finding that the lever was missing just that, the lever. The plate it was connected to was obviously still there. Fortunately though the missing lever couldn't have been simpler to find as it was hanging from an otherwise unused rack on the wall. Without ado he dashed over to it, grabbed it and hurried back to the plate and wedged it into the hole it belonged to. It didn't budge however beyond a difficult jingle.

"If I may ask," the woman spoke up as she wrestled with a lock on the machine, "while I understand a shield isn't great at it, why is it you won't kill?"

Steven hesitated before answering by pulling on the lever some more before giving up to see if there was something else that was sabotaged. "Because I don't like it."

"You do realize they're trying to kill both you and your guardian, right?" she asked in a grunt as she successfully dislodged the lock. When she rounded the machine she found the lever and like Steven she pulled on it. Something hidden away loudly lurched this time but the lever otherwise didn't move any more than it did as if in spite of her own efforts.

"I know..." Steven half murmured as he pulled on another lock. This one was half done however and thankfully easier to remove.

"I suppose its fine for now but don't you think your reluctance would only imperil us should circumstances allow it?" she asked as she pulled on the lever once more. This time it gave and depressed to the floor. In response the thunking from earlier returned and in succession no less. "It seems we've opened the gate. Let's go!"

She was already out the door long before Steven practically shambled to it, his face crestfallen once more at the barb against him. By the time he got to the time he came to the threshold he drew a deep breath and with renewed determination and slapped his game face on, banishing his despondent spirit and encouraging a rush of energy that carried him out the door, onto a sloping ramp and onto the ground proper to where the woman had reunited with a gloating Eddie Riggs as he stared at a serpentine creature that flailed about in pain. It's height, though hidden away by the hole it emerged from at the center of the arena, was easily comparable to the towers hanging overhead. Unlike them however they didn't have giant metal spikes spanning both sides of their respective bodies... nor did they have elongated oval heads, teeth twice as tall as Garnet or even spewed blood as it thrashed about in pain.

"Haha! You'll never French kiss again!"

"What's French Kissing?"

"Yeah, what's that?"

With a jolt Eddie turned around and looked to them as if they had appeared from thin air. Given his distracted state they may as well have. Regardless, Eddie gave a nervous smile to the woman. "Uh... It's-uh."

"The, um, gate's open," she offered with a playful smile as she pointed behind her with her knife without looking, at the first of two gates as it was opening.

"Wha—Oh! The gate!"

Before anything else could be said the worm-like creature brought its head to hover above them. Had it not growled it probably would've gone unnoticed by everyone. Its roar probably would've been all the more frightening as well as it splattered both Eddie and the ground he stood on with both black bile and dark blood.

"What's that?!" Eddie called out as he brought a grimy hand to cup his hear. "I couldn't hear you! It's like you got a lisp or something," he offered with a snarky smile.

"Over here you foul, rotten worm!"

Everyone's attention including the 'worm's' had snapped over to the woman who stood at the cusp of the opened gate. As the creature let loose a rasping, hissing snarl Steven's eyes widened in realization as to what she seemed to have in mind. And while he knew that he didn't know much of her in terms of ability, he also knew how fights against larger creatures tended to end when facing smaller ones lacking agility at the least. Already he was on the move and utterly ignored Eddie's cry of warning whilst the creature reared back and brought two prominent horns on its head to bear. When it finally lunged forth there was nothing anyone could do to knock Steven away in time. Instead they bore witness to a glow emanating from his stomach where the belly button was as he took a deep breath and spread both arms out as wide as he could. Before anyone realized it the 'worm' smashed its head against an immense pink shield that barred it entry into the gateway and with a sickening crack it whipped its head away in a daze as a horn fell off its head.

"Holy Crap!"

Both stared at the massive pink shield in awe. Both also looked at the one conjuring the shield in the first place and immediately noticed how red in the face the boy was already as his entire body shuddered.

"The car! The second gate should open soon!"

"On it!"

The beast roared once more and charged into the shield only to break off its other horn in the assault. Unlike before however it didn't retreat while Eddie got into the Druid Plow and drove for the corner gap between the shield and the tower. Instead of being bounced off like before the monster pressed into it with another roar and managed to push both Steven and the shield back even as the second gate began to climb up its railing. At any rate however the car rushed into the gap and made a sharp turn as the woman rushed to Steven, grabbed him and scampered away to the car. While the distance grew and his need to for became overpowering, the last of Steven's concentration slipped and the shield dissipated as a result of which. As a consequence of it the worm's head slipped through and rammed into the gate next only to recoil in surprise. In its own lapse of attention the trio in the car peeled out and with a boost of nitrous rushed out onto a massive highway of a bridge.

"Yeah! We did it!" Eddie exclaimed as the beast roared loudly from behind. Yet between the roar of the engine and the dwindling distance it was barely audible at best. At any rate however the older man looked down at the still red faced boy who was gasping for breath whilst cradled against the woman whose arms once more held him tightly to her. "Geez, are you alright Steve?"

"Y-yeah..." With a strained grin and drooping eyes he held up a thumbs up to the raodie. The man in turn glanced to the road for a brief moment before reaching over, folding his thumb down so Steven's hand formed a fist and dist bumped him. The boy weakly but genuinely giggled before his eyes drifted to a close and his body sagged against the woman. Before long and by listening carefully, soft snores were heard from the dark haired boy.

"Man, that must've taken a lot out of him."

"Indeed..." the woman noted with a distinctive, partially guilty frown...

 ** _CrKRACK!_**

"Huh?"

Before and after the vehicle the road cracked and spider webbed as far as the eye could see. It wasn't even a full moment later that the road began to collapse into the sea below. "Holy Shit!"

The knob for the nitrous recieved another pull just as one of many ramps began to form against its will as chunks of stone and rebar fell into the darkness below.

 **A/N: ...** **Fuck it.** **I like Steven Universe.** **I hope it gets a proper sense of closure unlike a grand many set of cartoons found on Cartoon Network and other such channels.** **That said, this story was actually inspired by "Drop Beat Dad" when Steven went on that little spiel about wanting to be a roadie.** **That and I played and loved Brütal Legend which hosts one particularly legendary roadie...**

 **At any rate this idea just wouldn't get out of my head. Plus like I said, I also have a particular weakness for marking previously unmarked territories.** **That and if someone has gone so far as to write zombie fics in genres such as My Little Pony (a notion I find outrageously hilarious (talk about the undead horse trope), then why not?**

 **Monkeybandit2, making off with your attention. No refunds.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own either Brütal Legend nor Steven Universe. Respectively they belong to Double Fine (I think) and Rebecca Sugar and so on.** **This story is for entertainment purposes only.** **Why else would it be on FanFiction?** **On with the story!**

Brütal Universe

Chapter Two: To hell and back again

BLADEHENGE(! (Headbanger: Bladehenge!) (Outskirts)

"Hey Steven, wake up! You got to see this!"

"Nghhhn..."

Bleary eyes cracked open and tiredly blinked away as they partially took note of the tops of trees and passing ridges mildly roving past the car door within his weary vision. Just beneath them he could make out the hazy figure that was Eddie as he drove the car. Though it was a little hard to make out the finer points beyond the blurry image of his body and arms in general, his tired sight was still keen enough to pick out that one hand wasn't clutching the wheel, he man's hand was stretched out and pointing at something. As such and still blinking the fog away he looked in the direction Eddie was pointing... and blinked. He blinked again and again and again, each time his eyes becoming wider and wider as his vision cleared to behold a gate within a wall of rocks which was made of tusks and stonework; three stones formed a barricade for anything larger than a person approaching it from the ground whilst the tusks rimmed the sides and were mounted with the sculpted heads of dragons. Yet what caught his vision and truly held it was what lay beyond it: a sword of a colossal make sat upright from the ground beyond it, undoubtedly stuck in the earth given how it stood tall. It was far larger than any gem weapon he had seen that was left behind in the Strawberry Fields, each one, no matter how great in its size, a toy in comparison to it. In fact he was quite certain that it took no less than the hand shaped ship Peridot and Jasper had arrived in to even yield it, and even then it might be too hefty for it.

So amazed was he with it that he hardly even noticed the car coming to a hefty body lurching stop that did little more than to sway the bodies forth in a short jerk of momentum, nor the blond woman with the halberd they literally parked next to who was bent low upon their arrival, her weapon at the ready.

"Ophelia! What demon have you allowed to follow you home this time?" she said just as the aforementioned woman hoped out of the car the moment she wriggled herself out from underneath Steven to jump out. And though that was what actually broke his attention away from the sword, the other woman's voice and the then heard clash of metal stabbing metal drew his attention to the blond woman just as Eddie walked around the back of the Druid Plow to meet her. At the sound of his approach she looked up from her probing attack with wide eyes of surprise. "Oh. Hello."

"Don't mind Lita," Ophelia said as the other woman stood up to her full height, her weapon standing at her side as she examined Eddie. "She's Lar's little sister. A little high strung," she offered as she raised her hand, her index and thumb a hair's breadth to emphasis her point before she walked away. As she did so Lita swiftly craned her neck to glare at her over her right shoulder just before Ophelia passed her, leaving her sight. She was about to snap her head over to her other shoulder to continue her glare when she finally caught sight of Steven who could only offer a friendly smile and a wave from his seat. Having been caught off guard by this, she hesitantly and stiffly waved back.

"Lars!"

Everyone's attention drew away to the gate where Ophelia stood as she looked up to the pommel of the colossal sword...

XVX

It took some time for Lars to climb down from the monument towering above them from a pit several stories down, perhaps a little under an hour. Regardless of that though introductions were made, hands were shook, a campfire was made, meat was cooked over it and stories were told mainly by Eddie. As for Steven he was half listening at best as he looked to the entirety of Bladehenge from its grassy tiered floors connected to one another by earthen ramps to its black leather tents that littered each ring. Even the style of dress on the Halford siblings was of interest to him from their leather boots, their black jeans and leather vests for shirts. Of the two only Lars was open however to reveal a muscular chest. Of the two however Lars' jacket had studs adorning it, not to mention the leather of his vest was brown as oppose to Lita's black closed version. What few spikes his garment had that seemed to be the fashionable norm was reserved to one of two black wrists bands, his left one to be precise whilst the other was just a plain cloth. Lita though had spikes on both of hers plus an armband on her upper left arm which rested beneath a tattoo of a skull with wings. Her spikes were more spikier though compared to the stud's like ones on Lar's wristband.

"—these performers, they don't even have to their own instruments?"

"Nah, that was our job. The roadies! The rock star's job is to just deliver the audience to the promised land of rock," Eddie answered with a flourish by upholding his hand and dramatically closing it in time for Steven to bring his attention back to the conversation.

"Fascinating," Lars responded with what looked to be an odd combination of a grin and a grimace whilst minutely shaking his blond haired head.

"Um, can we get back to the part where you two were summoned here from another world?" Lita intervened before anyone could think to ask or add anything else.

"Oh yeah. By this little guy here." Eddie looked down to his belt buckle and grasped it. Leaning forth, Steven couldn't help but pale and suck his lip as he realized that it was a miniaturized version of the metal beast's head. Yet even in his panic it was a little hard to miss the amazed, almost jittery reactions at seeing the belt buckle be it Lars swiveling his head to see if the others were seeing it as well to outright awed stupor in Lita's case.

"You were brought here by Ormagöden? The Eternal Fire Beast?" Lita asked as her eyes flicked from the buckle to Eddie and Steven as well.

"The Cremator of the Sky!" Lars offered unbidden, his gaze lifted up and his clenched hand held up for emphasis.

"Destroyer of the Ancient World," Ophelia added in breathy wonder.

Unperturbed by them in the least, Eddie spoke up. "Yeah. I accidently got a little blood in its mouth and it totally went nuts on us."

"It even killed the musicians," Steven glumly added with a grimace.

"Huh? Really?" Eddie looked to Steven in a moment of confusion before what the boy had said had fully registered in his mind. "Yes! There is a god after all!" he proclaimed, thrusting his arm up with his hand forming a metal claw in his excitement. He stopped dead in his tracks however when he noticed Steven's now horrified look. He flashed him what Eddie had hoped was a grin that conveyed he was joking yet even he felt it was more of a grimace than a joking grin. As such he cringed as he slowly lowered his arm back. "Yeah... that was... in poor taste," he mumbled to himself.

For better or worse the entirety of the scene between the two was ignored by the trio before them. Lars, Ophelia and Lita had huddled together as best they could without leaving their side-by-side seating, whispering amongst themselves so quietly that the pair only caught the odd syllable now and then. When Lars looked up, followed by the others, he wore an expression of solemn seriousness.

"There are those who speak of a day when Ormagöden the Fire Beast shall bring a warrior to this world."

"To destroy us," Lita somberly offered.

"To deliver us!" Ophelia objected with a scowl.

Lars held up a hand to signify his desire to end the argument yet the two women seemed content with glaring at one another. Regardless, he offered his own piece of mind. "There is some dispute about the translation."

His hand lowered on its own accord even though his attention wasn't on either of the two women. Though whether it was coincidence or perhaps correlating their agenda with his own, their attention went back to Eddie and Steven.

"But having met you, I can tell you are here to help us." His eyes and even expression gained an inspired, hopeful light to it. "To lead us."

"To wage war against the demons. To liberate humanity!" Ophelia elaborated, her fist clenched and raised fingers first during her speech. Between her and Lars it was enough to pump Eddie enough to leap out of his seat with a "hell yeah!" As for Steven however, a frown was being etched upon his face which went unnoticed by everyone else.

"Hey! Language!"

Wincing, Eddie clenched his eyes and rubbed his forehead for a quick thought. "Right, right," he offhandedly acknowledged. "I'll put a quarter in the Swear Jar later. Anyway!"

The roadie straightened himself, removed the hand from his head and began to rub his chin in contemplation as he turned his shoulder toward the trio. "I don't know anything about waging war but. uh..." He waved the index finger of his other hand in front of him as if to marshal his thoughts. With that same finger he turned around and pointed it at them as the other hand fell to his side. "But I'll tell you what I do know," he said as he began to approach them, stopping only when he was close to the still seated Lars. "I know from meeting you, Lars, that you are the true hero. Not me."

The blond haired man's head dipped in thought for a moment before Eddie spoke up once more with a confident smirk. "What I _do know_ is how to put a crew together and how to keep it organized, and how to take it out on the road!," he began to wave his hands just before forming finger guns and bodily facing to the side in his enthusiasm as he pointed said guns to the side. A second later he relaxed himself and turned back in time to Lars just as he stood up and clasped a hand on Eddie's left shoulder.

"That, my friend, is exactly what we need," Lars offered with a closed but hearty grin.

"But I'm _sure_ you must be longing to return to your homeland," Lita offered.

"Phbbt!" Eddie waved his hand dismissively as he rolled his eyes. "Alright, so where is this army of yours Lars?

"Uh... actually I have to go back," Steven spoke up for what felt like the first time in ages, at least for him, interrupting their thought process for just a moment. When everyone's attention snapped to him as if remembering for the first time he was in fact there, he shifted in embarrassment as he looked away to the ground for but a moment. He then dropped his frown in favor of a cheesy grin as he reached up and scratched his head through his curly hair to help calm himself. "I mean, I bet my dad is probably freaking out right about now. And the Gems aren't likely to be all that happy eiiitheeeer... ooh..." He paled as a sudden thought of Alexandrite tearing the stadium they were once in from its foundation in an effort to find him had came to his mind. "Yeah, they're not going to like this one bit..."

"Oh, right!" Eddie murmured just as he reached up and rubbed his chin as he looked to his belt buckle. After a moment's worth of deliberation he look to Steven once more. "Alright, how about this: we help them here out of their jam first," he jerked a thumb toward Lars and the others, "then I fire up this bad boy," he reached down and jostled up the metal head acting as his belt buckle, "and take you home!" he said after pointing a finger at Steven.

"Okay!" Steven enthusiastically responded with a smile and a nod. "So what do we do?"

"Right. Lars, about that army..." Eddie started only to face a solemn Lars who had a bitter grimace on his face.

"We have none," Lars admitted as he lowered his gaze, away from Eddie's. "General Lionwhyte has taken away most of our young men and sent them to toil away in his mines." His gaze briefly returned to meet Eddie's gaze for but a moment before falling down once more in a sense of defeat.

"And he's taken our women as slaves in his decadent Pleasure Tower!" Ophelia heatedly added as she stood up and stood by Lars' side.

"Well let's go get them back!" was Eddie's jazzed up reply.

"Yeah!" Steven added with an equally energetic upward thrust of his arm.

It was then Lars looked to Ophelia and saw her satisfied smile, her arms crossed across her chest in satisfaction. "No!" he said as he raised a pointed finger at her before letting his fingers spread out, his palm turned upward, and gently bobbing his hand for emphasis as a look of annoyance crossed Ophelia's face. "You are not to go near Lionwhyte again. You were almost impaled last time!"

"Compromise!" Eddie offered as he pointed his fingers at them. He looked to Lars first. "We'll get the dudes first and then they can help us get the ladies." His head turned to Ophelia at the second half.

"But—"

Unfortunately Ophelia was interrupted when Eddie eagerly hunched slightly in place as he made a breaking gesture with both arms, his fists clenched. "Time to break the chains!" When an swift and awkward silence ensued the roadie looked to Lars in confusion only to find him sternly frowning as if contemplating as to what to say in reply. With this same expression he turned away from them. A moment later he looked back to them, his face unchanging.

"I'll show you the mines," he said. "But I think you'll find these chains very hard to break."

XVX

Minutes later

At first it seemed the intent was for Lars to join them. Even though he was intrigued, after a moment's hesitation Lars opted to walk there instead, his face scrunched up in a dourly contemplative mood rather than the hesitance Ophelia adopted the first time she was offered a ride in the Druid Plow. He did point out where they were to go on their map however. Not only that but to Steven's amazement there were _colossal_ concert lights peering out from the sky with its lights seemingly pointing at the exact place they were to go; Eddie got a good chuckle out of Steven's admiration for the curious phenomenon after pointing it out to the younger roadie. In the end though they could hold his attention for so long within a moving car. Soon enough his awe for the lights were replaced with the sights of gigantic swords rivaling that of Bladehenge's namesake, yet were far more worse for wear with obvious chunks missing within the blades which jutted out from the ground; some of the swords didn't even have hilts. Not only that but littered amongst the landscape were a number other curious things: a giant skull still wearing a helmet was poking its head out of the ground of a slopping valley near Bladehenge. Trees about as tall as the renowned redwoods of California, yet their bases were that of metal in spite of the more leafy branches that grew from them. And if he looked closely he could swear he saw spear tips jutting out from the very top of each tree. In the distance were he to crane his head he would be able to spy odd land marks that were gigantic enough to be seen but were too far to be properly discerned. And then there were ruins, few and far in between as they were, also barely beyond sight entirely for him as they drove upon a dirt road toward what looked to be a massive overhead pass.

"So, Steven, I been wondering," Eddie spoke up at long last after what felt like a considerable time had passed. "Was that magic back there? You know with the summoning of the shield, the floating and such? Because that was kind of awesome!"

"Huh?" Steven's attention snapped back to Eddie before he realized what he had asked him. "Oh! Yeah! That was some of my Gem Powers!"

"You wha?" While keeping one hand on the wheel he glanced over to Steven every few seconds.

"Mm! My Gem Powers! I'm half Gem!"

"Huh?"

The car was beginning to slow down so he could devote more of his attention to Steven. When the child lifted up his shirt and revealed what looked to be a rose colored ruby sticking out of his belly button the car came to a complete stop.

"Uh... Aren't you a little young for that type of... bling?" Eddie asked with a raised brow. At this Steven tilted his head in curiosity.

"What's bling?"

"Ah... never mind," he waved his hand dismissively. In spite of that however Steven frowned in confusion and a little bit of irritation. "So I guess that does something important or something? Mean something important at least?"

"Yeah actually." Steven Raised his arm up and, after a bright flash from the gem, and another on the uplifted arm, proudly waved his rose pink shield for the world to see.

"Whoa." The car came to a complete stop so the roadie could better inspect the shield. "Now that's awesome!"

"I know!" Steven laughed, shortly joined in by Eddie as he reached over and poked at it to ensure it was indeed real. Needless to say it was. With a gentle tug he even removed it from Steven's arm and held it aloft for a moment before it disappeared in another flash of light, leaving him to unwittingly clench his hand at the sudden absence of matter.

"Oh that is so cool! Can you do anything else?"

"You bet I can!" With a bit of effort he hauled himself over the side of the cab and leaped onto the dirt road they had came to travel on. Once he was sure Eddie had a good view, he turned around with a grin, spread his arms out and willed forth the protective bubble to encompass him. In a fit of excitement he even activated its spiked feature much to Eddie's awe.

"Damn! I wish I could do that! Probably make my job a whole lot easier," he said. "Can't say I'm a fan of the pink though," he mumbled to himself soon afterward.

Yet despite its more aside nature, Steven heard it and frowned. "What's wrong with pink?"

"Ah, nothin'." Eddie scoffed and waved it off. "Just me being me. Out of curiosity though, could you change its color or is it just pink?"

Steven shrugged as he plodded his way back to the Druid Plow. "I don't think so. Then again I never tried before."

As he neared the car he came to a halt at its side door as a contemplative, pensive look adorned itself on its face. After a few moment of staring, Eddie broke the newfound silence out of concern. "Hey, what's wrong?" Steven didn't respond in the slightest and as such was silent for many a moment. In fact he was silent for so long that Eddie was more than tempted to speak up in hopes of divining something from the child's mind, yet stayed silent for but a moment longer to give the younger roadie a chance to compose his thoughts. In the end his patience was rewarded.

With a grimace Steven sighed as he looked up at Eddie. "To be honest, I want to help you guys, I really do... and I know we can't always sit down and talk things out with other people... but... do we really have to fight and kill people?"

Eddie instinctively moved to wave off this claim yet from a quick look at the rather surprisingly aged and dour look in Steven's eyes stopped him in his tracks. It was as if he already knew the answer despite knowing better, yet was hoping against hope regardless for nothing less than its own sake as well as his own. As such he clamped his mouth shut and grimaced. Subsequently like his younger cohort his own answer came after a length of time and consideration.

"I... honestly can't say we can..." he slowly admitted with a frown. At his, with a frown, Steven looked toward the dirt beneath his feet with a withheld sigh.

"Hey, look, how about this," Steven looked up at Eddie while trying to reign in his melancholy if only a little, "how about I talk to Lars about this, find out what the deal is, you know? Until then, we'll try to talk to them, okay? If they don't want to talk, you go Captain America on them and knock them out with that shield like you did before, alright?"

With a small grateful smile Steven nodded. "Hm!"

"Alright! Hop back in Short Round!"

With an eager smile he indeed did just that. Barely a moment later after installing the seat belt back into position the Druid Plow took off with a hefty roar and a burst of flame.

"By the way, who's Captain America?" Steven asked once more.

"Oh just a comic book superhero. Basically tosses a shield like yours and punches bad guys in the face till they're unconscious."

"Cool!"

Chuckling, Eddie followed the road up the hill and beyond, marveling the sights with Steven even as the beginnings of a ramp to a _colossal_ highway came to view.

"Whoa!"

"Yeah, whoa!"

XVX

Crushing Pit Entrance

"So this is it, the Crushing Pit."

Looking down at the earthen ramp leading into the red tinted chasm, he was almost tempted to say it reminded him of the Kindergarten where Amethyst came from. As for the Pit proper, it was closer to a hellish landscape as it sat in the depths of the earth below as the name suggested. Chains ran to and fro amongst what few stone spires and spikes in the pit to hold a massive pillar in place over a pond sized pool of lava. Along the bottom of the pillar was a platform where several heavily muscled men pushed against several rods attached to the middle of the platform, turning the evident machine in a counter-clockwise manner. All around them in the pit were men similar to them in stature on scaffolding, other platforms or on the ground itself banging their heads against the walls with such force that it was easy to see the larger chunks of rock break and fall apart. In fact they didn't seem the least bit bothered by it as they continued to bat their heads against the walls in unrelenting and untiring repetition. Those that weren't were pushing carts loaded to the brim with vehicle parts to unknown destinations. Amongst them and watching over them were large even more muscular men who easily towered over them. Each one of these giant men wore an executioner's hood as they held aloft impossible humongous hands coated in black leather and studs along the knuckles.

"Hundreds of our youngest strong men are toiling their lives away like their fathers and grandfather's before them," Lars stoically narrated as he watched the scene below with both Eddie and Steven to his side. "Given no tools, they're forced to break solid rock with nothing but their own thick skulls."

"That's got to hurt," Steven murmured. Lars only dully hummed in solemn agreement.

"Come on, let's bust them out of there! Where's the gate?"

"Yeah!"

Their attention immediately went to Eddie, though Lars' reaction was made slower between surprise... and reluctance.

"There is no gate."

"What?"

"Huh?" Their attention was on Lars now whose lips bore a grim frown.

"They have nowhere to go," he began to explain. "No idea how to function outside the pit," he then said as he looked back to the pit before them for but a brief moment before turning back to Eddie. "Society has no use for them. So they stay underground." He momentarily glanced to the pit with a sad grimace.

"I wish I could help them but, I mean, what do you do with a bunch of kids who don't know how to do anything but bang their heads all day long?"

Steven was unfortunately stumped as he tried to think of a response, an idea to offer. He then looked to Eddie for some form of inspiration only to see the man looking on the verge of tears, trembling lip and all. With what resolution he could muster he gave Lars the answer. "We start a revolution Lars," he said in a voice threatening to let loose a choked sob. There were even tears forming in his eyes. He then blinked them away as he brought up his arm and clenched his fist. "Right now!" He then placed his other hand on Lars' nearest shoulder and used the former to point it at Lars. "It's time to sound the battle cry!" he said with a more sure and determined voice. In the meantime Lars' face scrunched up with incredulity.

"Have you been... looking at my sword?" he asked rather suspiciously.

Dumfounded, Steven furrowed his brows as he looked to Lars' sword in wonder. As such he missed Eddie's own stoic yet confused reaction as he stared back at the other hand once he had retrieved his own limbs. His eyes darted between Lars' own eyes to his waist, to his sword and back again with a raised brow. when Lars then drifted his hand down to his sword's handle it was only natural for the Roadie's eyes to follow it as it drew the blade out from its scabbard, revealing its nicked yet sharpened glory as well as a glowing set scripture of a musical noting.

"Cool!"

Eddie simply remained silent as he studied the musical notes etched onto the blade with the same intensity like he had read the tablet back at the temple. As if in concert upon finishing his memorizing of the blade's musical sheet Lars sheathed the blade once more.

"I need to get back to Bladgehenge before Ophelia does something dangerous."

"Alright," said Eddie as he slowly brought up his hand and clenched it rather dramatically during the following response. "We'll meet you back there with an army fit for a king."

Without further ado Eddie turned and bolted for the Pit. Lars similarly turned and ran for Bladehenge. Steven, following their lead, followed Eddie. In the midst of the chase Steven realized something. "Hey Eddie! We forgot to talk to Lars about the war!"

"Huh—aww! Right! Plan B! You see them, you conk them if we have the choice!"

"Okay!"

In mere moments they descended into the depths of the earth. Soon enough the light of day was dimmed and choked with the shadows of the overhanging manmade cliffs and smoke from the burning torches that illuminated the darkened snaking corridor where the sun progressively failed to reach. All around them were the men they observed from the above, each one muscled, thick necked and typically wearing either a headband which obscured their eyes or some other headwear of their choosing such as spiked helmets and wool hats for example. Some though stood out more than others. As was a bit of a theme he was beginning to pick up on, most people wore either leather or at least dark clothing and wristbands, though in the case of these head banging guys they wore broken manacles for reasons beyond him considering there wasn't even a need for a gate, amongst other things that made them even kind of cool in Steven's eyes... that was not the case with some of them.

While he was sure he may have spotted them from above with both Lars and Eddie by his side, he must have glossed over the guys wearing pink clothing, tiger striped clothing, mesh shirts, ostentatious blonde hair and the fur lining their own broken shackles. Regardless of this however, while the other 'Headbangers' tended to treat their vocal attempts to rouse them toward leaving with apathetic indifference, these guys were simply rude! They didn't want to listen period! Alas though, that wasn't either here nor there at the moment. Before long the two were scratching their heads as they tried to think of a new strategy...

Once again Eddie came up with an answer for the both of them.

Once again he slipped off his guitar and strummed it experimentally before striking the first cord. Once again the scenery darkened and stage pyrotechnic lamps spontaneously burst into life from the ground. With each successful chord struck the lamps shone brighter as a dim but bright pillar of light reached up from each lamp. And once it was done in its surprisingly short run, Eddie held the guitar aloft in a glorious finish as his background erupted in a fiery explosion of power that burned no one yet announced itself all the same with the brilliance of a volcano. Even if one ignored all that it didn't take away from the riffing of the guitar despite the lack of an amplifier to boost its majestic cry. As such it was impossible to ignore for those closest to them pair of roadies whom immediately stopped cracking their heads against the earth in order to listen.

"Whoa... What is that sound?" one spoke up in confused wonder as he half turned and eyed at the upper walls of the pit through his head bandana.

Another one wearing a biker's helmet and a rocker's shirt offered his own opinion. "It's a devil screaming!"

"It's an angel singing!" a third joined in as he threw his arms apart as if to embrace the idea.

"It is the pounding of creation's hammer upon the anvil of time!" the second one spoke up again.

"It's fucking awesome!" a fourth summarized as he threw up a metal claw.

"Hey! That's a bad word!"

With confused grunts the headbangers who spoke up as well as a scant few others began to crowd them turned to Steven whilst Eddie rolled his eyes. "Give a freebie on this one Steven. We'll start up a quarter jar later... and to answer your question guys, it's called..."

"Heavy Metal. And it should be the _real_ reason you should bang your heads, not for that guy," Eddie said as he gestured to a nearby statue that was twice as tall as the roadie, its stone painstakingly imprinted leopard spots from the base to the bust and the replica of a microphone including its stand right in front of said bust. As for the bust, it was of a somewhat effeminate man with a grand mane of hair parted at the middle like tuff's of a lion's mane. Said mane also cascaded back down to the base of the statue.

"Yeah! Screw this place!"

"We're out of here!"

"Metal!"

The group began to converge on the pair of roadies when a pair of the... flashier headbangers immediately planted themselves in the interspace between the headbangers, the roadies and the exit. "Hey, hang on guys!"

"I know we're all struggling right now, but I'm telling ya, this is going to pay off really soon!" one offered while the other nodded in agreement. The both of them had smarmy grins plastered onto their faces.

"Yeah!" the other one agreed. "Our manager says that if we just work hard, and produce a high quality product, that we'll be able to move up to cush guard jobs in the General's Pleasure Tower!"

"There's going to be piles of chicks and booze and stuff!"

No one reacted to that save perhaps Steven who, with a disbelieving frown looked to Eddie for something of a rebuttal or to see if it was just as much a bold faced a lie to him as Steven himself couldn't help but suspect as much. Likewise the other headbangers, the normal ones, turned to Eddie as well only to be met with his steely partial squint of a stare.

"We're with him!" one of them announced before shuffling off to stand behind Eddie. While doing so one of the headbangers took it upon himself to glance at their flashier counterparts and, much to Steven's confusion, curled all but his middle finger into a fist, upheld said fist and presented the aforementioned finger at the pair.

"Hey Eddie, what does that mean?" the young teen asked.

"Adult Stuff, Steven, Adult stuff." The older man's lip curled into a grin as he felt the younger roadie give him a flat stare of annoyance.

"Hey man, sorry," first... hairbanger spoke up as he and his friend began to step back, "but we got a sweet gig here." He then pointed a finger at the group as he continued to retreat. "We're not about to let you greasebags ruin it!" Promptly the pair turned around and dashed to the first obstacle to the inner workings of the Crushing Pit, a wagon seemingly parked deliberately between two columns built into a wall to act as the only proper gateway they seen thus far. Regardless, in their rush to it they were crying the likes of "Guard!" "Riot!" and "Walkout!" and kept doing so when they stopped directly in front of the 'gate' till the cart was pushed out of the way. From the newly opened doorway lumbered a muscled giant of a man wearing black leather pants adorned with broad studded spikes along the front of each leg. Likewise his fists, his impossibly sized fists, each were about as chest as his chest, were similarly clad in leather and spikes as well as studs, spikes for the knuckles and the wrists whilst studs were along the upper joints of their curled fingers. To top it all off the giant also wore an executioner's hood intermediately ringed with more traditional spikes rather than the broader design on his pants and gloves.

"I heard those guys over there are organizing a union!" one of the gaudy headbangers filched to the giant, causing the man to bend down and crane his head so as to better hear him. Upon receiving the message he looked up, growled the most intimidating growl he could muster and slammed his hands together at the studs. "We'll go sound the alarm!" the traitorous flashbanger called out as he and his friend slipped past him and dashed through the gate before it slammed back into place.

"Alright dudes, we have a plan—hey!" Eddier started only to scream when the headbangers rushed past the pair with battle cries in a bum rush to the giant. "Ugh... Well, you're up Steven."

 _BAM!_

He snickered to himself the moment Steven, with a grim face of determination, summon his shield and lobbed it at the hulking man before either side were halfway close to the other. True like an arrow it slammed into the man's head and knocked him over, laying him flat on the ground with a groan as the shield dissipated into nothing when it was evident it couldn't make a return trip home. That didn't necessarily stop the headbangers though. They stopped when the giant was decked, yes, but after a moment of gawking they shambled over to the downed groaning man and stared at him for a moment. Then, without warning, the headbanger closest to the giant's head headbutted him, knocking him out for good, as the other guys began to kicked and wail on him despite him being knocked out.

"Hey!"

"Alright guys! Break it off! He got his comeuppance and all that!"

"Aw!" they all groaned.

As ordered they left the unconscious giant be after a few last parting shots on his person. Though disappointed, they were nevertheless happier for it if their smug grins were anything to go by.

"Alright, I know this is sort of a bad example, but, I think you have a pretty good idea as to how much..." he glanced at Steven who caught it and matched it with a curious stare. "... butt you dudes can kick when you band together like that?" The headbangers began to nod their heads with eager smiles. "Good! Now," he brought his hands up as if whispering a fact, not that he was actually whispering though tet he lowered his voice all the same for but a moment. "Now with just a little bit of practice," he jutted those same hands to the headbangers, "I bet I can turn you dudes into a well oiled machine of buttwhooping," he said as one hand lowered whilst he clenched his other hand into a fist for emphasis. "You into it?"

It was barely a moment's worth of eager grins and a muttering of a discussion before they nodded and agreed with him.

"Okay! First, when I do this!" the roadie suddenly pulls his axe free and holds it aloft, "it means you got to follow me, okay?" Again the headbangers eagerly nodded with a few giving him a thumbs up. "Okay, let's try it." After lowering his axe he suddenly thrust it up again with a hefty roar of a grunt. Immediately the headbangers rushed to him and gathered around him in a semi-organized fashion, none, including Eddie, seemed to notice the strange purple light that erupted around Eddie himself for but a brief moment. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

"Now let's practice moving in formation!"

While Steven openly stared at Eddie as he tried to puzzle out what happened, Eddie and their newfound allies began to trot off to the statue of the man with the exceptionally long, poofy hair. For better or worse however his musings were cut short before they could truly begin when the headbangers made a ruckus of themselves and swarmed the statue the moment Eddie was close to it. In a matter of seconds they proved that their muscles and hard heads were not for show as they utterly demolished the statue in a matter of seconds with nothing more than their thick skulls bashing against the stonework with a vengeance. He could almost swear he heard Eddie saying something, commenting on the whole affiar, but he wasn't able to properly hear it between the crushing of the stonework and the jubilant shouts of the freed slaves. At any rate though Steven was hurrying himself over to the group, all the while he noted with some surprised that he somehow missed a set of similar statues nearby, albeit differently colored to the now dubbed 'yellow' statue for its most prominent color.

"Okay, now, opposite style!" Eddie uttered as he marched in front of the semi-assembled horde like a general, his hand pointing up and down as he may. He then turned to them as soon as he was in the middle of their line and held up a closed fist. "When I do this it means "don't follow me!" he said, his fist turning into a waving finger to help stress his point. That same finger then pointed downward to the ground and bobbed with each word that escaped his lips. "Stay put, defend this hallowed ground. Got it?"

Like before the headbangers eagerly nodded and grunted in agreement. Upon hearing this, seeing the affirmation, he then pointed to the now destroyed statue. "Defend this pile of crap with your very lives! Okay here—"

"Ahem."

Eddie smacked his face whilst the others stared at Steven. "Right... ten year old. I keep forgetting there's a ten year old here."

"Hey! I'm fourteen!" Steven indignantly cried out.

"Huh? Really? You look a lot younger than that..." Eddie all but mumbled as he looked down and faced his ward's frowning form.

"Called it!" _Smack!_ "Ow!"

Between the random claim and the abrupt head slapping, Eddie was jostled out of his thoughts and turned back to the headbangers. "Right! Here we go! Here's your mark!" He threw his fist in the air and from a seemingly random yet close spot a blue marker brilliantly shown itself from seemingly nowhere like its purple counterpart, leaving Steven to gape once more, leaving the older man to scurry off to a purple variant of the destroyed statue, his words lost to Steven for a short while.

"Come me warriors!"

Suddenly the light disappeared, that and with the combination of Eddie's voice Steven was shook out of his thoughts once more and left to spin around in time to catch the headbangers charging Eddie's newfound position by the purple statue. Barely a moment later they rushed past him and mashed the other statue to rubble with practically bloodthirsty grins on their faces. As they did so, with Eddie standing back and watching them, Steven rushed over to the older roadie and tugged on his pants leg to grab his attention whilst the headbangers eagerly smashed the rubble of their handiwork in an attempt to add insult to injury.

"Hey, Eddie? When you were doing those gestures... did you notice strange lights popping up from the ground?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Like when you do this," he held up his fist like Eddie did, "this blue light appeared out of nowhere!"

"Huh... I can't say that I have... one sec. Let me test something out. Hey guys!" he said as he turned to them, again garnering their attention. "Now this time we're going to mix it up! I'll defend this area, while you dudes," he bobbed his hands to the ground beneath them before pointing at them with one hand and jerking his thumb over his shoulder to the last statue in the area, "annihilate that statue over there."

"Yeah!"

"Let's do it!"

"Okay!" Eddie whirled around and hunched forth. "When I do this!" he lurched forth his left hand, said hand forming a metal claw. "When I do this you guys," he turned around and pointed his right hand at them, "go absolutely nuts on whatever I'm pointing at, okay?" His pointing hand turned into a fist. "Ready?"

"Yeah!"

"Eviscerate!" he yelled as he suddenly turned around and pointed the metal claw at the last remaining statue. At his prompting the whooping horde rushed past the two of them as they ran to the last of the three statues within the room... where a red marker was beaming up from the ground like a spotlight.

"Huh..."

"You see it too?"

"Yeah... and I was doing that earlier?" he asked as he glanced at Steven as the headbangers utterly destroyed the statue and its resulting rubble; they weren't even letting the rubble from the rubble survive either for good measure.

"Yeah! Only different colors though."

"Huh..."

They both broke out of their impromptu meeting and jogged over to the mob as they milled about and reveled in their victory of the demolished statue.

"Lionwhyte sucks!"

"Death to Lionwhyte!"

"I hate statues!"

"Alright! Well done!" Eddie announced once he was close enough to stand before them. "I'm proud of you boys! But to build an army big enough to take on the _real_ Lionwhyte, we're going to need some more dudes." He then pointed to the gate behind the mob. "We're gonna bust all your fellow headbangers out of these stupid mines. What do you say? Are you with me?!"

"YEAH!"

"METAL!"

The mob organized behind them and was soon following Eddie as he charged forth, Steven keeping pace with them as they made to the gate.

"Go get them!"

"YEAH!"

In a sudden burst of energy the horde rushed forth, outrunning Eddie in a mad race to the newest beacon emitting from underneath the makeshift gate. Like with the statues their banging heads made short work of the trolley that barred passage, permitting passage for the roadie whilst he rallied the headbangers as he charge through. "No Headbanger left behind!"

The passage before them was much wider than the initial area they had found themselves in, allowing much more room for an enslaved labor force to work en masse. It was also deeper within the earth to such an extent that the sun was choked off; pyres, braziers and magma was all that illuminated the darkened recesses of the earth. And there, barely beyond the first bend within the canyon of a corridor was the gyre itself, a pylon much more massive than he initially thought it was, supported by a trio of legs standing just outside of the pool of lava the gyre towered over. Unfortunately its purpose was still unknown to Steven, though with observation he couldn't help but notice that there was a plunger thrust into the lava and, thanks to the labor provided by the headbangers pushing the revolving wheel above it which on the platform above, turning with such force that it was churning the molten liquid to create a small whirlpool where the plunger made contact with the lava.

Regardless, with the cry of the guitar more and more headbangers were roused into joining their cause. Hastily erected barriers constructed during their prisoner's apathy were smashed beyond recognition. And soon enough they were at the base at what was soon nearing the base of the gyre where the workers continued to work with near listless effort, heedless to the mounting revolution brewing beneath or around them. Even so, the band of renegades were not ignored by all.

"What?" a gravely voiced boomed out from unseen overhead speakers. "Trustees! We are under attack! Crush the intruders and his band of traitors! Kill them!"

The first of the guards rushed at them, hairbangers whom apparently weren't aware of the revolt in the first place and thus still working till that moment. The enlarged horde were almost upon them before Steven caught on to their presence and let loose a shield at the pair. Sadly however it didn't deck either as it had with the giant. Instead it simply dazed them enough to instinctively clutch at their heads in pain when the shield smashed into their skulls when the shield bounced off one and ricocheted onto the others... leaving them open for their vengeful counterparts to swarming them...

Thanks to his height and the sheer multitude of bodies that were growing by the minute, from both guards and counter revolutionaries joining the growing melee as well as other prisoners shaken out of their lack of interest by their eager brothers in arms, Steven was spared the sight of the flashier men being mauled to death as well as the bloodletting from the newfound frontlines which were being overwhelmed by the freed prisoners. It didn't stop the screaming however, the blood curdling wails that rooted him in place amongst a sea of bodies of muscled men rushing to the front. He didn't even notice that Eddie had disappeared or that the commanding voice was booming order upon order from above as the screams of the dead, the dying and the bloodthirsty consumed his own world...

"Help! Heeelp! _(Cough! Cough!)_ "

"My arm! They tore off my arm!"

"AAAAAAAUUUGH!"

Unable to think, he did the closest thing that made any sense: he ran to the nearest headbanger coated in blood and made pale for it as he laid on the ground, fighting for air as he was all but ignored by everyone else. Without thinking, Steven licked at his palm and slapped it onto the man with near instantaneous results. His original tone returned barely a second later and his breathing was no longer ragged for it despite the blood still covering him. Undoubtedly he blinked in befuddlement at his renewed state from underneath the seemingly uniform headband that covered his eyes to the point of shadowing what _could_ be seen of them. Regardless of his headpiece though he sat up and looked himself over before looking to Steven.

"Uh... thanks!" he offered with a thumbs up before jolting back onto his feet anf running back into the frenzied melee with a war cry. Steven could only watch on with half glazed eyes as his mind continued to try to ward off the bloody carnage surrounding him. As such he wasn't aware of the tears beginning to fall from his eyes as he turned his back to it, instead turning his attention to yet another headbanger try to crawl away, leaving a wake of blood leading from the frontline. Soon afterwards after planting his healing saliva on the dying man he turned to another young man in numb shocked as he tried to put his own arm back on the bloody stump it came from... A giant curled up into a bloodied ball crying for his mother... another falling into the lava pit and letting loose his final scream of agony...

It only got worse from there whilst a song seemingly booming from nowhere echoed off the walls. He didn't even notice the wail of a guitar roaring through the speakers with such force that it overrode the song he didn't hear.

XVX

With the overseer dead, his reinforcements crushed and driven out with righteous fury, Eddie couldn't help but inwardly smiled as he surveyed the victorious headbangers whom gathered near the edge of the lava pool. Some of whom were treating themselves to a beer dug up from parts unknown, unknown to Eddie at least.

"Alright, listen up!"

One he had their undivided attention he spoke up once more. "In honor of you guys," he pointed a semi-waving finger at them before pointing to his forehead, "we're calling his new army Ironhead!" He then briefly looked away in with a brief but serious look of contemplation on his head. "With an E on the end so people know we're not messing around!"

"Ironheade!"

"I like it!"

"Right on!" one shouted before leaning over to whisper "I don't get it" to a friend.

"So let's get back to Bladehenge," Eddie shouted as he threw a thumb over his shoulder to the earthen ramp out of the pit, "and get this army started!

"IRONHEADE!" they all shouted before storming up the ramp to the world above.

With a smile and his knuckles on his hips he watched the horde muscle their way up the path. His smile was lost however as a niggling feeling began to rummage through his conscious, like he had forgotten something during the excitement. His eyes widened to saucers as he realized what it was he had forgotten: "Steven!"

His head whipped from left to right. Thankfully for him he soon found who he was looking for: thankfully he was the only moving body amongst the sea of dead bodies, standing up from kneeling down some distance away—

Correction! He was one of two moving bodies! Before him was one of the Bouncers, getting up from the ground and utterly _drenched_ in blood, but moving nevertheless! Steven in the meantime was simply standing up and looking up at the behemoth as if it wasn't a big deal!

Without having to think twice about it he grabbed his axe and began dashing toward the pair, never noticing nor caring about the flapping lips between the two, one confused whilst the other was... tired. Just outright tired. It wasn't long before the roadie's presence was noticed however. With a growl the bouncer shifted himself so to face the other man whilst he was charging him, his colossal fists at the ready—

"Just Stop!"

Both men came to a halt and offered the teenager a smidgeon of their attention, neither of whom were letting down their guard however. Even so, Steven, with dried tears in his eyes while looking up at the giant near listlessly pointed his hand to another path leading further into the Pit's mine. "Just... go... there's been enough, hasn't there?" he asked almost lifelessly as his already diminutive stature sagged from sheer exhaustion.

The bouncer could only blink and snap his head to and fro from Eddie to Steven with indecision. Eventually however he lowered his fists to what could only be assumed to be a more 'relaxed' state for him before reluctantly turning around and lumbering off. Once Eddie was utterly sure the bouncer wasn't going to suddenly turn around and attack them once their guard was down he finally holstered his axe before turning to Steven proper with a mouth half open to address him. Sadly however his words and even his thoughts died rather swiftly as he beheld Steven in what felt like an age as he eyed the sheer wrongness of a child-like fourteen year old utterly smattered in blood; none of which his own thankfully due to a distinct lack of cuts or even bruises on his person. Worse yet was the look in his eyes. His slouching and almost defeated posture was one thing, but his eyes... Eddie couldn't help but remand himself for even thinking about bringing a kid into a fight of this magnitude. Worse yet he wasn't sure if he was thinking at all in the first place!

"Hey... Steven... are you... alright?" the older man hesitantly asked with a grimace as Steven dulled eyes craned themselves to look at him, piercing through him with a distinct hope in ignoring _everything else_ they could see.

"Let's just go back," Steven answered him, his previous exuberance nothing more than a ghost now. Without bothering to wait for Eddie's reply he looked away and intently focused the brunt of his attention on the earthen ramp the headbangers ascended moments before whilst he did his damndest not to accidently step on any of the dead bodies littering the battlefield. In the meantime Eddie quietly palmed his face and silently shook his head.


End file.
